Rosalind Franklin knew exactly what she had.

James Watson's claim that he'd recognised what Franklin had failed to see in her famous photograph of DNA's helical structure was taken at face value in part because she'd left no notes about the image. Researchers have now shown that it's because it was a second photo, taken to correct the centring and contrast of a first—which Franklin had made extensive notes about, and had used "to calculate, for the first time, the length of each turn in the spiral—34 angstroms—and the number of bases 'per turn of helix (if there is a helix).'"

alternative_right shares a report from ScienceAlert: It might be reasonable to think that there's an indelible link between the heart and the body it resides in -- the processes that affect one inevitably affect the other. But a new preprint, uploaded to bioRxiv and yet to be peer-reviewed, suggests that this may only be true up to a point. Take the heart out of the body and put it in a new one, and something incredible happens. The transplanted heart begins to take on the biological age of its new owner. Older hearts transplanted into younger recipients appear to become biologically younger, while younger hearts placed in older bodies show signs of accelerated aging.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An estimated 2.3 million cancer cases worldwide in 2024, about one in eight, were attributable to infections, according to a study published in The Lancet Oncology. "This recent Lancet data is a profound reminder that a significant portion of our global cancer burden is fundamentally preventable," said David Greenberg, MD, of Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center, in a news release. "We have historically siloed infectious diseases and oncology, but they are deeply intertwined. By shifting our focus toward aggressive infection control, we can literally vaccinate and treat our way out of millions of future cancer diagnoses." From a report: The study found that an estimated 2.3 million new cancer cases were attributable to infections globally in 2024, equivalent to 12% of all cancer cases. Of these, the largest number (760,000 cases, or 4%) were caused by H. pylori, followed by HPV (750,000 cases, or 4%), HBV (360,000 cases, or 2%), EBV (260,000 cases, or 1%) and HCV (160,000 cases). More than three quarters of infection-attributable cancers occurred in low- and middle-income countries. Eastern Asian had the largest burden, with 990,000 cases (42% of the global total). Rates were also higher than the global average in sub-Saharan Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

alternative_right shares a report from Phys.org: Nanoparticles could someday provide a new way to help soldiers fight back against deadly nerve agents on the front lines. In a new study, Northwestern University scientists developed a nanoparticle-based compound that, when mixed into clothing dyes, could limit the impact of chemicals commonly found in pesticides, insecticides and nerve agents. Manufacturers could potentially add the nanoparticles to clothing used by those most at risk, such as farmers' masks and gloves or soldiers' uniforms and tactical gear. Or, if someone is exposed to a potentially deadly chemical, they could spray their clothing with water mixed with the compound to deactivate the chemical before its damaging effects take hold. The study has been published in the journal ACS Nano.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Reporting (Guardian) on a draft research paper from St. Andrews shows that male patients are more likely to receive active(surgical) medical treatment compared to female patients with the same medical issue.

Also reporting from Euronews where I got the link to the article Me: This demonstrates a systematic issue and reinforces the need to talk with a doctor about treatment plans if you can and not just go with the flow when overwhelmed or in pain.

The first-of-its-kind drug offers a reprieve for people who live with the debilitating sleep disorder.

© BSIP/Universal Images Group, via Getty Images

A first-of-its-kind drug for the sleep disorder offers a new treatment for people who live with the debilitating fog of sleepiness.

© BSIP/Universal Images Group, via Getty Images

Artificial intelligence was used to help develop a drug candidate, rentosertib, for a rare lung condition. Its maker says the drug also seems to reduce the biological hallmarks of age.

© Laurie Chen/Reuters

Artificial intelligence was used to help develop a drug candidate, rentosertib, for a rare lung condition. Its maker says the drug also seems to reduce the biological hallmarks of age.

© Laurie Chen/Reuters

Doctors were hopeful the drug, which was being tested in a large clinical trial by Novartis, was going to be a powerful new tool to fight heart disease.

© Juan Gaertner/Science Source

This sort of research is both exciting and terrifying:

The two models in question were told to generate complete genomes for a viable bacteriophage—a type of virus able to infect and replicate itself inside bacteria, destroying them from the inside.

Using an existing bacteriophage as an example—ΦX174 (pronounced “fie-ex-1-7-4”), known for its ability to infect and destroy E. coli bacteria—the models generated about 700,000 potential designs, of which the researchers picked 285 that looked most promising.

The researchers then synthesised new DNA molecules using those designs and inserted them into E. coli bacteria, before waiting to see if viable bacteriophages would emerge.

Shortly afterwards, 16 of the Petri dishes in which the bacteria were growing began to show clear spots, as the viruses began to attack and replicate themselves inside the E. coli, demonstrating their viability.

Some of those viable viruses proved more effective at attacking E. coli than the original ΦX174 bacteriophage.

That’s a positive use of a synthetic virus. We can all imagine the negative uses.